PVP FACR Plasma Aux2bat Build

vangreal

Hello everyone! First, thanks for checking out this post. I am looking for a bit of help refining my build as I am not extremely familar with it, and I know it is somewhat of a blended build.

http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/?build=vangrealfacr11_0

I have 2 purple and 1 blue of the techdoffs, the aux2bat ones.

I also have 2 purple projectile doffs and 2 purple shield distribution doffs.

I would love a few suggestions on my equipment, captain stats, bridge and duty officers to really make this ship shine. Right now I am just using a double tac team, double epts, and double eptw build with one copy of FAW and one copy of Torp Spread.

If for some reason the link does not work, just go to this link please and check it out, just search for Fed, Tac, Fleet Assault Cruiser, the build is called VangrealFACR11. Thanks again for the help!

http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/search.php?faction=Federation&career=Tactical&ship=Fleet+Assault+Cruiser+Refit&action=Search

praxi5

You're lacking any sort of heals, so I'd expect it to be quite squishy.

I'd also look at maximizing whether you want to broadside, or whether you want to be fore-arc heavy (but that's just me... I like picking one thing and going all out on it). Personally, I'd go with high sustained DPS - EPtW, DEM, Plasmas, and FAW.

vangreal

praxi5 wrote: »

You're lacking any sort of heals, so I'd expect it to be quite squishy.

I'd also look at maximizing whether you want to broadside, or whether you want to be fore-arc heavy (but that's just me... I like picking one thing and going all out on it). Personally, I'd go with high sustained DPS - EPtW, DEM, Plasmas, and FAW.

That's what I was thinking too when I put it together, though I wasn't sure which heal to put in. Something I could punch EPTA and an aux battery and then heal my hull up nicely. RSP and TSS and EPTS are what I selected for shield heals, but everything here is open to suggestion. What would you suggest?

As for broadside or fore arc, it would be MUCH easier to stay on target with a broadside build, though the reason for what I picked the DBB and the Omega and Hyper and RomBeam upfront was for directed burst. I have read quite a few of your posts, as well as quite a bit of others folks on the pvp forums for tac cruisers in pvp, and aux2bat builds. What would you suggest? I know the unhappy Pandas are quite well versed in pvp, unfortunately I have been out of serious pvp for almost 2 years. SO much has changed, I'm a newb all over again.

I know for solid tac pvp I should just jump in my fleet defiant or one of the new kumari's since I don't have a bug ship, but I just love cruisers so much. I would very much appreciate your refinements on this build. Thank you again!

vangreal

Looking for any and all suggestions or refinements please


Thank you!

sgtstarfall

Haha looking at this build is like looking at a mirror of my own. Nevertheless, there are many things I would change:

Trade TSS for Hazard Emitters. Because both HE and TSS aren't very efficient in this kind of build, I prefer HE especially when aux batteries are low. HE allows you to clear plasma burns and borg shield neutralizers, while TSS doesn't have much utility other than to give some extra shields (not enough with low Aux). Also, it would provide you with some hull heal that this build is lacking. Also, because you're running 2 plasma torpedo, there's a good chance that you'll get some of that splash damage on your ship. HE would clear that instantly.

After some analysis, I am getting the sense that you're trying to do too many things at a time. You have 2 1/2 sets on this ship and it's hindering your DPS potential and versatility. You also have 4 beams in the back, which means they're wasted when firing forward. IMHO, I would remove the Adapted Borg set and the Omega 2 piece. Keep the romulan set. Here's my reasoning:

Borg torp and Romulan torp conflict:
I have played games with a full 8 torpedo build including the two plasma torp spam. However, due to game mechanics, the Omega seems to take priority over the Romulan torp, which means you'll have to manually click and fire it (very annoying). If you really plan on keeping these two, i recommend getting a T:HY somewhere to overcome the CD overlap problem. I'd stick with just the Romulan Torp, as it gives plenty of torpedo spam already. Tack on 2 torpedo doffs and you'll see a streamline of torpedoes torwards your target.

Kinetic Cutting Beam problem:
Because you're not running a full borg set, the kinetic cutting beam is no more useful than an interesting turret. To hamper its ability further, the damage type is kinetic, which means that it's ineffective against shields. If you have the full borg set however, it may serve an interesting purpose for borg tractor beam direct damage. Having the 3 piece Adapted Borg set isn't enough to justify sacrificing 2 weapons slot.

Omega Set issue:
Believe it or not, I have also tried the Omega set on my ACR. Frankly, the shield damage isn't high enough to hold its own. This set is more focused on weapons that have a high fire rate (cannons and turrets) and beams don't benefit from this set as much. As so, it wasn't enough shield damage to shield strip even NPC frigates. Since you're not running the full set, I assume that Gravitic anchor isn't your goal either. I would swap this 2 piece for the Borg engine/deflector 2 piece for more survivability. Keep the MACO shield.

Further Weapon Analysis:
I also disagree with the forward DBB mostly because you want to maximize broadside damage. I suppose if you're running a plasma spam torpedo build, you can keep the two torpedoes up front. If you choose to continue maximizing frontal damage, swap out the 4 beams in the back for some turrets, or maybe even mines (chroniton are most useful imo). If you choose to maximize broadside damage, take out the Borg torp, cutting beam and DBB and swap them all out for Plasma (single) Beam Arrays.


Final Words:
Well, that's just my 2 cents on all this. I am definitely liking the 1 minute CD of the RSPs and 30 sec CD of the EPtS; it makes for good tanking. APO every 30 seconds allows you to put on trollface.jpg against any crowd control or disables. I personally swapped it out for APB2 though, since I get more damage out of that. Haz Emits + Evasive Maneuvers normally get me out of tight binds. As a side note for APB2, it also gives more reason to use DEM3, since it gives you higher damage.

Hmm..I think that covers all of it. Let me know what you think! ^^

cha0s1428

Ok, for starers I am writing this from my phone so I cannot tell 100% which plasma beams you're running but if those are NOT romulan.plasma beams I would suggest those right off the top. Praxi is right about focusing on either broadside or front, and since you only have one RCS, you should prolly stick with beams. As it looks right now, your rear is more of a threat than your front. Albeit its a close call.

DEM Ihave never found to be that effective but some people swear by it for damage so who knows. With the changes coming to EPtX powers, aux2batt builds seem to be the only way to go.

I see you are going for the Omega set for tet glider I assume. Its not bad really but I have found them to be less than effective with beams. It seem to be best suited for cannons. I would personally swap those peices for the borg set since you are lacking on heals.

I would also.suggest you drop tractor beam for hazard emitters. You have a lot of plasma there and you will set yourself on fire. If you do want a decent tractor, go for the eentire borg set as it gives you a nice power leeching one.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

vangreal

Thanks for the info! So I was lucky enough to get most of my sets before the rep grind, I have full Maco XI, full Omega XII, and full Borg XI

Should I be including fleet gear in what I can get? My fleet has a t4 starbase. I have heard wonders of the new fleet shields, though from what I hear the fleet weapons are meh?

After flying it for a bit as is, I am definitely going for a broadside build. I will leave the forearc action to my escort. Just too hard to bring my forearc to bear enough of the time to make the extra damage count.

I figured I had too much going on with that build So based on everyones suggestions...

Sticking with the RomHyperPlasma and 2 torp doffs. I like it, and the Omega with just looks cool with high yield, the having to manually fire it is meh.

After looking at the bonus to damage for the kinetic beam once the borg tractor is used on a target, it does look quite a bit handier, rather than like you said, a meh turret. I do need to use full borg then however, including the shield. When switching to a regen shield like the borg one, do you use a field gen(cap%) or shield emitter (reg%)?

The Omega gear will go back to my escort it seems As for the Maco shield, I can keep that, though again, should I go with a Fleet shield instead?

Gonna swap the DBB and the Omega Torp for beam arrays, it is worth it to research the Romulan Beam Arrays or just get DIL or Fleet Plasma Beam Arrays?

I am gonna stick with APO, APB2 I am worried will be all to easily cleared by tacteam, with I have to assume most folks are still going to be running.

As for RCS, is it worth it to use em on a broadside build? I am thinking not now, what would you suggest in that ENG console slot?

As for DEM3, yeah, I really want to focus on straight to the hull damage on this build, shields are so strong right now, plus the whole plasma idea should fit nicely into beams straight into the hull, prehaps even a Beam Overload or two for Malcolms sake.

Thanks again for the thoughts, I think once I have these questions answered I should be burninating the countryside fairly soon!

Sincerely,

VSB

redricky

You can't do much better than this for a Fed cruiser. You could replace the BO with HYT if that's how you want to roll.

The only alterations I'd make to my esteemed peer's build are in the doffs. I only run 2 purple tech doffs because the third only brings shorter abilities like BO and CRF up a few seconds faster compared to two, and longer abilities see no benefit from the third tech doff. Also, I run an battery cd qm doff on my A2B builds.

You'll notice he's going with the same 2 piece Omega and Maco shield. Single cannons of course. Don't knock them til you've tried them.

If you're married to APO, which isn't necessarily a bad thing when it is coming up as often as it does on a double A2B build, then I'd keep the Rom torp, leave it on auto-fire, and run TT and CRF. You are correct about APB getting cleared too easily to be useful in PvP.

vangreal

redricky wrote: »

You can't do much better than this for a Fed cruiser. You could replace the BO with HYT if that's how you want to roll.

The only alterations I'd make to my esteemed peer's build are in the doffs. I only run 2 purple tech doffs because the third only brings shorter abilities like BO and CRF up a few seconds faster compared to two, and longer abilities see no benefit from the third tech doff. Also, I run an battery cd qm doff on my A2B builds.

You'll notice he's going with the same 2 piece Omega and Maco shield. Single cannons of course. Don't knock them til you've tried them.

If you're married to APO, which isn't necessarily a bad thing when it is coming up as often as it does on a double A2B build, then I'd keep the Rom torp, leave it on auto-fire, and run TT and CRF. You are correct about APB getting cleared too easily to be useful in PvP.

Cannons eh? Hmmm Alright, I will try it out! Let you know how it works out tonight, I had read this post about that cruiser setup awhile back!!